The spelling bee seems like a stupid contest. A contest to spell the ridiculous English language (hardest and stupidest language to spell in the world), they're spelling words nobody uses, and itβs not even fair since everyone gets different words, but for some reason America has always pushed this contest on kids.
Looking into it more, another weird thing is it's basically former top spelling bee kids who run the national spelling bee as adults and keep this torture going for future kids.
Plus learning to spell tens of thousands of words nobody uses doesn't have any use in life for these kids. They put thousands of hours into studying for spelling bees as children. They could be putting those hours into anything else and it would be arguably better for their adulthood...actually learning to speak a foreign language, learning a musical instrument, learning math and science, learning finance, or relaxing and just being a KID enjoying themselves (better for MENTAL health). Of course, these kids will mostly grow up to be successful doctors, lawyers, etc. but they would've done that anyway without spelling bees simply because they're already smart and motivated.